Surface-reading apparatus, subject verification apparatus and storage medium storing subject verification program

Abstract

The present invention provides a surface-reading apparatus that includes a subject-flexing mechanism and a surface-reading component. The subject-flexing mechanism causes a subject to flex in one of a convex form and a concave form. The surface-reading component reads a characteristic of a surface condition of the subject that has been flexed by the subject-flexing mechanism. The surface-reading component can includes an optical reading component that optically reads the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject. The optical reading component may be a reflected light-reading component that reads the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject with reflected light or may be a transmitted light-reading component that reads the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject with transmitted light.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A surface-reading apparatus comprising:
 a subject-flexing mechanism that causes a subject to flex in one of a convex form and a concave form; 
 a surface-reading component that reads a non-reproducible random pattern characteristic of a surface condition at a curved portion of the subject flexed by the subject-flexing mechanism; and 
 an illumination component that illuminates light at the subject flexed by the subject-flexing mechanism such that the surface-reading component reads the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject by detecting one of reflected light and transmitted light due to the light from the illumination component, 
 wherein different curvatures of the subject are made at a position at which the subject is read by moving the subject-flexing mechanism linearly. 
 
     
     
       2. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer readable program executable by a computer for causing the computer to perform a function for verifying a subject, the function comprising the steps of:
 (a) flexing the subject in one of a convex form and a concave form; 
 (b) reading a characteristic of a surface condition at a curved portion of the subject flexed in step (a); 
 (c) illuminating light at the subject such the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject is read by detecting one of reflected light and transmitted light due to the illuminated light; and 
 (d) judging whether or not the subject is an original subject on the basis of surface information obtained by reading the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject in step (b) and surface information of the original subject, wherein
 different curvatures of the subject are made at a position at which the subject flexed in step (a) is read by moving the subject-flexing mechanism linearly. 
 
 
     
     
       3. A surface-reading apparatus comprising:
 a subject-flexing mechanism that causes a subject to flex in one of a convex form and a concave form; 
 a surface-reading component that reads a non-reproducible random pattern characteristic of a surface condition at a curved portion of the subject flexed by the subject-flexing mechanism; and 
 an illumination component that illuminates light at the subject flexed by the subject-flexing mechanism such that the surface-reading component reads the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject by detecting one of reflected light and transmitted light due to the light from the illumination component, wherein 
 different curvatures of the subject are made at a position at which the subject is read by moving the subject-flexing mechanism, the subject-flexing mechanism includes: 
 a subject retention portion that retains a pair of mutually corresponding edge portions of the subject; and 
 a subject-flexing member that presses a central portion of the subject retained by the subject retention portion in a thickness direction for causing the subject member to flex, and 
 the subject-flexing mechanism flexes the subject with a first curvature by pressing with the subject-flexing member to a first position, and 
 the subject-flexing mechanism flexes the subject with a second curvature by pressing with the subject-flexing member to a second position. 
 
     
     
       4. A surface-reading apparatus of comprising:
 a subject-flexing mechanism that causes a subject to flex in one of a convex form and a concave form; and 
 a surface-reading component that reads a characteristic of a surface condition of the subject flexed by the subject-flexing mechanism, wherein 
 different curvatures of the subject are made at a position at which the subject is read by moving the subject-flexing mechanism, 
 the subject-flexing mechanism includes: 
 a subject retention portion that retains a pair of mutually corresponding edge portions of the subject; and 
 a subject-flexing member that presses a central portion of the subject retained by the subject retention portion in a thickness direction for causing the subject member to flex, and 
 the subject-flexing mechanism flexes the subject with a first curvature by pressing with the subject-flexing member to a first position, 
 the subject-flexing mechanism flexes the subject with a second curvature by pressing with the subject-flexing member to a second position, 
 the characteristics of the surface condition are read with two curvatures respectively, and 
 the apparatus further includes 
 a determination component that determines whether or not the subject is genuine based on information obtained from the reading. 
 
     
     
       5. A surface-reading apparatus comprising:
 a subject-flexing mechanism having a movable subject-flexing member that causes a subject to flex in one of a convex form and a concave form; and 
 a surface-reading component that reads a non-reproducible random pattern characteristic of a surface condition of the subject flexed by the subject-flexing mechanism; and 
 an illumination component that illuminates light at the subject flexed by the subject-flexing mechanism such that the surface-reading component reads the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject by detecting one of reflected light and transmitted light due to the light from the illumination component, wherein 
 at a time that the subject is not moving, the movable subject-flexing member is moved linearly from a first position in which the subject is not flexed to a second position that causes the subject to flex in the one of a convex form and a concave form. 
 
     
     
       6. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer readable program executable by a computer for causing the computer to perform a function for verifying a subject, the function comprising the steps of:
 (a) at a time that the subject is not moving, flexing the subject in one of a convex form and a concave form by moving linearly a subject-flexing member; 
 (b) reading a characteristic of a surface condition at a curved portion of the subject flexed in step (a); 
 (c) illuminating light at the subject such the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject is read by detecting one of reflected light and transmitted light due to the illuminated light; and 
 (d) judging whether or not the subject is an original subject on the basis of surface information obtained by reading the characteristic of the surface condition of the subject in step (b) and surface information of the original subject.